Monterey school district delays superintendent decision, board president resigns

Controversy surrounding a man expected to take over as superintendent of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District took a dramatic turn this week.

Despite a pending lawsuit against him, all indications suggested Alain Guevara would be hired as MPUSD's top educator during Monday's school board meeting.

But the building was packed and a long line of speakers demanded that their voices be heard while Guevara sat in the audience. After listening passionate pleas during an hour-long public comment session, the school board announced it will hold off on choosing a superintendent until May 7.

Guevara is an assistant superintendent in the Lake Elsinore School District. Guevara and the district made headlines last year after an administrator filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the district's leadership team. The lawsuit's claims about sexual harassment and disturbing homophobic humor during district retreats alarmed teachers and parents in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

"You don't joke about it, because you don't know how the other person is going to react. I find these allegations highly unprofessional," Walter Colton Middle School teacher Justine Hochstaedter said.

"Coming into a new job with a pending lawsuit just puts a burden on us," Monterey High School teacher Carrie Parker said.

The lawsuit states that Guevara acted in a video skit pretending to get a colonoscopy and the video contained homophobic, sexually-charged jokes. In another exercise, Guevara asked colleagues to describe their sexual preferences through sketches. At another retreat, he wore a hat with plastic testicles hanging from it.

In an interview with KSBW reporter Tom Miller, Guevara refuted the claims.

"I would say that that is inaccurate that there were testicles hanging from a hat," Guevara said. "When you're suing somebody it's about legality, right? And whether things are legal or not. I don't think there's anything illegal that was done at those retreats."

With the MPUSD meeting packed full of skeptics, Guevarra said he was disappointed Monterey Peninsula educators rushed to judge him.

"I guess I was looking forward to the opportunity to prove that I'm up from the job, that I'm excited about working with them," he said.

Another unexpected incident happened at the same Monday meeting when school board president Curt Parker suddenly resigned. Parker said after serving four years on the board, he now wants to focus on his wife who's been struggling with health issues.

"She's been very supportive of the things I've done and it's time I'm supportive of her," Parker said. "We've got to find out what the problem is and how to get a solution."

A special board meeting with the superintendent search as the focus was scheduled for next Monday.

Copyright 2013 byKSBW.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Sunday it was "very alarmed" by reports of widespread doping by track and field athletes in major competitions including the Olympic Games and world championships.